Caught Red Handed (Eva, Flashback)

[Sam O'Connor]

Ahhh, exploring. Sam was a young and adventurous child, and for his twelfth birthday, his grandparents took him on holiday to Beta Cygni, a planet made up almost entirely of water - awesome. His grandparents were very lax when it came to rules and boundaries, not that they didn't set them, but they knew he was a mindful and sensible young boy, so he was allowed to explore, as long as he didn't stray too far away.

Plus, his telekinetic powers meant that he could take care of himself if need be.

Today he'd found his way onto the grounds of some large estate - climbing through the hole in the fence had been a doddle - and was wandering about the grassy lawn, staring at the clear blue sky. It was so awe inspiring, this whole place, Sam was loving it.

He was lost in his own idle thoughts when he heard a voice call out and quickly froze on the spot.

Uh oh.

[Evangeline Irvine]

Heaving another sigh, Eva shifted again, trying futilely to make herself comfortable on the lumpy window-seat. It was such a beautiful day outside, but Louise had told her to stay in and read up on how to block other telepaths out of her head while she'd gone into town to buy some things and visit with friends. And Eva knew that, really, she had no choice but to do so--Louise would know if she hadn't, because she'd try to read her mind to see, and if Eva couldn't block her, that would answer all questions.

But sitting inside, watching the sun pour in freely and the wind play with the leaves on the trees and tickle the wide expanse of grass, wasn't fun. It frustrated her to no end. Why wouldn't Louise ever let her out when she wasn 't home? It was almost like she thought someone would kidnap her if she set foot outside--which was, of course, preposterous. If anyone wanted her, why wouldn't they just break in?

Another sigh slipped from her lips and she shifted again, finally finding a patch in the shade, and was about to begin leafing through the large book on her lap when an unfamiliar presence registered on the outer bounds of her mind. She glanced out the window curiously, and found that it was a boy, perhaps a year or two younger than herself, had somehow gotten onto the property.

"Odd," she mumbled to herself, putting the book aside and slipping off the window seat. Heading out into the entrance hall, she tugged on a pair of boots before pausing for a brief moment. Then, with a shrug, she unlocked the door and stepped onto the front step. The air was pleasantly warm and humid, as always, and she inhaled deeply, a smile on her face.

Shaking herself, Eva turned and marched across the yard to where the boy was wandering, gently prying into his mind to see if he might be a threat. He seamed safe enough, though something about him seemed different than most people--he had the same sort of tinge to his mind as Louise did, though it was different as well. How curious.

"Hey! You there!" she called, catching his attention. A smirk crawled onto her face when he froze, and his only thought upon hearing her made her giggle a little. "I'm not going to bite you, you goof. I just want to know what you're doing on Domino property."

[Sam O'Connor]

The hairs on Sam's arms stood up on end, his skin tingling. Funny, he'd never had that sort of reaction before - and he hadn't even dared to look at her yet. Realising he looked like someone had hit the pause button on him, he slowly swivelled on the spot, looking up at the young blonde. A grin spread across his face as she told him that she wasn't going to bite him.

"Well, that's a relief," he joked, "though I don't doubt that you'd find me tasty if you did." He may be young, but his Grandparents, teachers, and friends all appreciated his sense of humour. His accent only helped carry it off.

"I, uh," he flicked the back of one of his ears, avoiding her gaze for a moment, "curiosity?" It was the truth at least. "I know it's supposed to kill the cat and all that, but last time I checked, I walked on two feet, not four." He chuckled, looking up at her again, "apparently it's not all that bad to be caught doing something you're not supposed to be doing."

Hey, if he was going to be caught by young blonde women, he'd get himself into trouble more often.

[Evangeline Irvine]

The boy stood there, paralyzed, for a long moment, and Eva was almost tempted to tap her foot. To mundanes--as she'd taken to referring to people without mental abilities--his hesitation wouldn't have seemed that long, but as she could sense how he was feeling the exact moment he felt it, it seemed so much longer to her.

However, when he did turn around, he offered her a smile, and after a pause she returned it. He seemed a sweet boy, if nothing else. And a comedian, too. His beautiful Irish lilt only added to his charm, and her lips curled up at the corners a little. He'd be a full-fledged lady-killer in a few years time.

"Are you suggesting people would turn cannibal for you? Do share your secret," she teased, absently flicking back the several tendrils of blonde hair that had fallen forward over her shoulder. "Is it the brand of soap you use? Or do you just have naturally delectable skin?"

This was surprisingly amusing. Eva hadn't really had much contact with her peers, and so even if there was a slight age difference, it was still nice to talk with him. The paper-boy, while closer to her age, was a moronic oaf who grinned stupidly and cracked horrible jokes whenever she came out to tip him on Louise's orders. It was awful.

When the boy in front of her explained what he was doing there, she rolled her eyes in amusement and crossed her arms. "Is it a habit of yours, wondering onto private property because you're 'curious'?" Though she said the words, there was very little conviction behind them.

"Not all that bad, huh?" she echoed, arching her brow jestingly. Of course he'd think that being caught by a girl wasn't a bad thing. But he didn't know what kind of girl Eva was, and she wasn't about to tell him. After all, she didn't know what kind of a boy he was. In fact, she didn't know much about him beyond the fact that he was on the property.

"My name's Eva," she introduced, holding out a hand politely. "And yourself?"

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam knew his expectations of himself. With ears he had yet to grow into, and feared he never would, a goofy grin (and giggle to match), and skinny frame, he knew that he would be a dork through and through. He didn't imagine he'd be completely unfortunate looking, but his comedic value and charm would have to make up for what he lacked elsewhere.

He laughed when she joined in with his joke, poking fun at him all the while. "Of course," he said, "once they've had one taste, they won't be able to tear themselves away!" It was a random topic of conversation, people eating him, but funny as well. "I'd have to say that soap, no matter how good it smells, doesn't taste nice whatever you put in it. So I'd imagine it would be a natural tastiness, salty, most likely."

Sam took this moment to look her over properly - even young boy's minds had a tendency to wander. She had pale skin, sort of like she didn't see the sun much (but then again, so did he, but his was a chronic palidness that he just couldn't shake), but her blue eyes were pretty, as was her long blonde hair, which she flicked over her shoulder to great effect. She was also going to be long and gangly like him, he could tell. Except, for her it'd probably end up being attractive to other people, for him... eh, not so much.

"Apparently so," he grinned, breaking through that defensive aura she was attempting to throw up by crossing her arms. "And no, not really that bad. It could have had worse. Like some guy built like a tank, dressed all in black with the shades to match, could have come stampeding out the house and ran me over. That wouldn't have been fun at all."

"Ah, I'm Sam," he said, taking her hand and shaking it enthusiastically, "my Nan and Pa call me Samuel, but mostly only when I've knocked something over in the kitchen and hidden in the back garden so they can't get me." The grin returned to his face, and he beamed at her, enjoying this a lot.

[Evangeline Irvine]

The boy proudly proclaimed that his tastiness was entirely natural, and Eva's expression slipped into a smirk. This was entirely absurd--and yet, she could only just stop herself from falling into gales of laughter. She forced herself not to, however, instead merely listening to his mental ramblings.

She was accustomed to hearing people think about her--after all, when she listened in on people's thoughts, as a general rule, they were talking to her directly, meaning that she usually had their attention. As he thought about her, though, she felt almost self-conscious about it. It must come with meeting someone new.

Then he agreed with her, and she simply couldn't help it--she had to let slip a giggle, even if she tried to stifle it with her palm. She had expected chagrin, or maybe even an apology, but he'd simply gone out and told the truth. It was then she decided he was an all right guy, even if a little quirky at times.

"You don't have to worry about anything like that," she laughed. "I'm the only one here right now. Though I suggest not sticking around if Louise shows up--she's much, much worse than any MIB." After all, she was a telepath with very strict rules--for example, no boys on the property.

Scoffing mentally, Eva pushed the thought aside and smiled as the boy introduced himself as Sam. He had a firm handshake, confident, not to mention energetic, and her smile widened infinitesimally. "Technically my name's Evangeline, but I like Eva better. Though Louise enjoys calling me Evy, which I don't mind."

After a moment, she reclaimed her hand and rocked back on her heels, trying to think of what they should do now that introductions were over. She should probably escort him off the property, but she didn't really feel like it. He was too much fun to talk to. Maybe she could invite him in? Louise would kill her if she found out, but Eva was confident that she could smuggle him out the back door before the older woman noticed a thing.

"Would you like anything to drink? A snack, maybe?" she offered, side-stepping a little and indicating that if he were interested he could join her in heading back inside the house.

[Sam O'Connor]

Eva giggled. Hurrah! It was almost like his mission in life to make people laugh. Life was supposed to be full of positive things like laughter and fun, not boring, depressing stuff which did no one any good. "No use hiding it," he told her with a shake of his head, "I heard that laugh. Covering it up just gave you away."

"Louise?" he asked. He wasn't a mind reader, so he had no idea who she was talking about. But it sounded like he didn't want to stick around to find out. Any yet, he didn't want to leave so soon either. All the other kids around the place didn't humour him like she did, it was so much better when people pandered to his quirky sense of humour and self. "Sounds like quite the scary lady."

"I think I'll stick with Eva," he said with a nod, "it's a lot easier to say than your full name. Evangeline doesn't exactly roll off the tongue with this accent." Plus, he liked it. Three letter names were always cool. "People have tried to call me Sammy before," he snorted, "but they've nearly always ended up face down in the sand pit." He wasn't violent by any means, he didn't have the strength to over power people, but it was fun to pretend.

"You give me something that could potentially make me more chatty?" he snickered, "all right, but don't say I didn't warn you." Risking this Louise's wrath, he stepped past her and into the house, looking around in awe at the grandeur of the house. He'd never seen anything quite like it before.

Then he realised something. "Why am I leading?" he said, "I have no idea where I'm supposed to be going."

[Evangeline Irvine]

It was obviously gladdening to Sam that he'd been able to make her laugh, and Eva rewarded him with another quiet giggle into her hand. He was a sweetie, he really was. "I would have turned it into a cough, but that would take too much effort. Besides, you would have picked up on it anyway, despite my wonderful acting skills."

It wasn't until he asked that she realized she hadn't told him who Louise was. "Yes, Louise Domino. She owns the property," she explained quickly to compensate. When he said that she sounded frightening, Eva began to shake her head, but then paused and nodded a bit. "I suppose she can be a little scary at times. But she's nice once you get to know her, despite all her rules and precautions."

Another laugh was her only reaction to what he'd said about people calling him Sammy. She truthfully couldn't picture him hurting anyone, even if he disliked the name they called him by. Accepting her offer to head inside, he continued to amuse her by joking that anything that she gave him would just make him talk more.

"Not if I gave you taffy," she snickered, following him as he took the lead on heading back to the house, "That would make talking pretty hard, even for someone as chatty as you seem to make yourself out to be." He was witty, definitely, and quite funny beside, but he didn't seem the type to blather on forever without incentive.

Goodness, she was making a lot of assumptions today. And she wasn't even bothering to double-check by using her telepathy! Not that she particularly wanted to go digging around in his head--she respected others' privacy too much to do that. She distracted herself by taking in his stunned reaction to the interior of the house.

At his question she grinned a little, skipping lightly passed him and spinning into a slightly wobbly pirouette. Instead of returning to fourth position as she ended, however, she continued to skip forward. "This way," she chimed in a sing-song voice, leading Sam toward the kitchen.

Twirling through the archway into the galley, she danced over to the fridge and reached up into the cupboard above to grab a couple of glasses. "So what would you like to drink?" she asked as Sam appeared shortly, "We've got water, milk, and a variety of pops and juices. Anything catch your fancy?"

[Sam O'Connor]

"Oh yeah, wonderful," he replied with a cheeky grin, sarcasm definitely wasn't beyond him, but it would probably earn him a dig in the arm, or a ruffle of the hair. His Nan always threatened to wash his mouth out with soap, but she never followed through; his big, reproachful, brown eyes usually won her over.

"Ahh, well," Sam chuckled, scratching the back of his neck, "I get the funny feeling I won't have much of a chance to get to know her while she's running me off her property, waving a pitch fork and torch." He wondered why this woman was so cautious/strict with Eva - was she just overprotective, or something more?

Sam let out a laugh when she said that she could give him taffy - that would shut him up good and proper. "Goooooooood point," he nodded, "well done. You've found a way to silence Sam O'Connor. Maybe someone will give you an award." He grinned back at her, his ears perking up as his face spread into the wide smile. Everything about him screamed adorable, and he'd worked that to his advantage on more than one occasion. Every day, usually.

He watched her as she did her pirouette, wobbling to the point where it looked like she might fall over. His instincts tried to take over, preparing to catch her with his powers if she did happen to lose her balance, but she found her footing and skipped on, and he let out a small sigh of relief. He usually refrained from using his powers in front of other people, they usually had one of two reactions; awe or horror, both with not particularly pleasant after effects.

Scurrying after her quickly into the kitchen, he was entranced by the way she moved. Shaking his head, he mentally slapped himself. "Milk," he said, "because it tastes good, none of that wishy washy stuff about needing more calcium," he waved a hand, disregarding what scientists had been saying for years. He'd learned from his Nan that people actually got enough calcium from their other food stuffs, they didn't need to drink milk as well.

"Now that I've picked my mouth up off the floor," he smirked, "how old is this place?"

[Evangeline Irvine]

"Hey!" Eva exclaimed with mock outrage at Sam's jibe about her acting. Her fist came around to lightly clip his shoulder, and she shook her head at him with her eyes narrowed playfully. "Don't you know better than to insult a lady?" Okay, so she was a little young to exactly be considered a "lady", but regardless.

At his following remark about Louise, Eva snorted and grinned. Pitchfork and torch. Right. "Watching that could be interesting, but I really wouldn't recommend it. She can run. I found that out the hard way. Stealing a snack before supper--more dangerous than one might think."

Sam's next thought registered with her, and she frowned slightly; not enough to be noticeable, but it was still there. As much as she felt bad about admitting to it, he had a point. Why was Louise so protective over her? It was strange, if she really thought about it. But not wanting to damper the light mood, she decided she'd dwell on that later and let it go for the time being.

"An award? Please, I'd deserve acknowledgment throughout the galaxy!" she laughed. They were exaggerating how much he talked, in truth, as so far he was merely keeping up the conversation. But then again, she'd never seen him on a roll, so she couldn't be entirely sure how much he was capable of talking in one sitting.

Once they were both in the kitchen, he stood there and simply watched her for a minute, making her smirk internally. "Take a seat," she offered, gesturing to the casual dining table tucked in between the wall and the large window before pulling the milk out of the fridge. Pouring them both a glass, she brought them over to the table and sat down herself, kicking off her shoes and pulling her feet up with her in order to cross her arms over her knees.

"You know, I'm not really sure," Eva confessed when Sam asked about the age of the building. She glanced around, eying the architecture considerately for the first time in a while. "It's always looked sort of Victorian modeled to me, but Louise likes that sort of thing, so she might have had it made especially for her."

She thought to the creaky floor-boards and service stairs that led from the kitchen closet up into the guest room, and sort of doubted it. Shrugging, she took a sip of her milk. Something else occurred to her then, and she asked, "I don't believe I've seen you around before, have I? Are you here on vacation or something?"

[Sam O'Connor]

"Apparently not," Sam said with a chuckle, rubbing his shoulder, "but I'll remember that a few years from now when you're actually a lady." That was, if this... friendship? lasted past today. It could just end up being one of the random encounters of his life, but if he was lucky, then maybe he'd catch up with her someday, that'd be cool.

He laughed at what she said, talking about his impending doom seemed to be a source of amusement for the both of them. "Yeah, I don't really think my scurrying will be able to carry me away fast enough." Louise appeared to be a fearsome thing to behold, he would definitely scarper before the woman turned up, his Grandparents would like to find their Grandson alive, he was sure.

"Fine, fine, you drive a hard bargain," Sam told her, shaking his head, "but I'm sure I can manage it, I'll start with my friends at school; and in no time at all, the whole Galaxy, nay, the Universe will know of your awesomeness!" Talk about taking something to the max, it was all in the name of good fun though, as was clear by the giant grin on his face.

He plonked himself down into one of the chairs and ran a hand through his thick hair - it really needed a trim, as his Nan kept telling him, but he liked it long and sticking up like this, it made him feel taller. As soon as the milk was on the table, he took a long drink; he hadn't had anything since breakfast - the perils of adventuring in unchartered territory... to him anyway.

"So, really old then," he said with a grin, acting dumb to get a laugh. "I don't know, it looks like it could be really old, but then, she could have imported parts in from Earth to make it look authentic. Most of the Victorian houses there are gone now." Especially in Northern Ireland. But then there was a stone structure there in the East of the country that is said to be the oldest standing structure in the history of the Earth. Go figure.

"Vacation," he nodded, "guess it's not hard to tell really, what with the soft spoken Irish accent slash voice and all." He grinned at her, "I'm here with my Nan and Grandpa, they figured it might be nice to go off world for once. They let me roam, which was probably a bad idea on their part, but I'm having fun all the same."

"How about you? Have you lived here your whole life?" Her being on first name terms with Louise suggested that the woman wasn't her mother. In that case, where were her parents?

[Evangeline Irvine]

Eva felt a slight pang of jealously as when Sam mentioned telling his friends at school. She'd never gone to a school--Louise had insisted on teaching her everything herself. For a moment she considered asking him what it was like, but then decided it wasn't worth it. Why taunt herself with something she'd never have?

Playing idly with a strand of her hair, Eva watched as Sam downed over the half the glass of milk in one gulp and grinned a little. "Thirsty, I take it?" she teased. "Would you like something to eat, too?" There wouldn't any problem in scrounging something up for him--Louise had enough food stored away to feed an army.

He then suggested a possibility as to how the building may have come to be. "That sounds likely," she agreed, nodding. Louise wasn't exactly short for money, either, so she'd probably managed to pay for everything without so much as a second of hesitation. However, where she got all this money Eva wasn't sure.

It made her frown a little when he said he was merely here on vacation. No long-term friendship, then. Well, she supposed that was nothing new. "Where are you staying?" she quizzed. There weren't any hotels around that she knew of, as they were outside town, but there was a collection of beach-houses nearby. Maybe they were renting one of those?

When Sam asked if she'd been here all her life, she paused. Hell, what could it hurt, telling him what you know? "Not precisely, no. From what I understand, I was born back on Earth. Somewhere in Australia, I believe." She shrugged. "I guess I was given up as a baby or something. Louise adopted me, brought me back here, and I've been living with her for as long as I can remember."

It was sort of pathetic that that was all she knew, she noted. But Louise didn't seem to like talking or thinking about it that much. "What about you?" Eva returned. "You say you're here with your grandparents, right? What about your mum and dad?"

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam grinned, "just a bit," he said, taking another sip, "got dangerously close to giving myself a milk-stache there." He wiped his upper lip with the back of his hand glad to find that he was safe. "Good way to make myself look like an 80 year old midget though." He wasn't that short, about 5'3" right now, but his Grandpa had high hopes. High, literally.

"Aww, come on," he said, seeing the frown cloud her features, "it's not that bad. If I'm not neutered by Louise on sight, then I can try coming back. I'm here for another week after all." He smiled at her, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, we're at one of the houses just a quarter of a mile from here, on the beach, so you can imagine, my Grandparents are spending most of their time there, tanning their pale, wrinkly skin," he smirked.

"Ooooh," Sam said, genuinely interested, "how intriguing." That sounded more like something a detective from a murder mystery novel would say. "Well I suppose as long as you have someone to look after you who treats you all right, you can't go too far wrong." His Grandparents filled that role and his parents role. He had a feeling he knew what question was coming next.

He laughed a little, scratching the back of neck. "It's kinda weird," he admitted, "okay, completely crazy." He didn't usually tell people this, as he'd imagine their eyes would just bulge out of their sockets. "I, uh, well, my Mom got my Dad pregnant... no, I'm not kidding. She was from Ilosia, and things work a little differently there. Needless to say, things went a bit... crazy, and, well, my Dad didn't survive. So, that's why I'm living with my Grandparents."

"It's the truth I swear." Her reaction would be interesting.

[Evangeline Irvine]

"Ha, yeah, if," Eva agreed, giggling a little. "And if she doesn't manage to catch you, I'll probably run off the property with you anyway. Just having her see you would ensure a skinning on my part, along with a good chewing out. I think it's pretty obvious why I'd rather avoid that altogether."

He mentioned his grandparents trying to tan, and she choked a little, pretending to be on the verge of dry-heaving. "Now there was a mental image I really didn't need," she laughed, wrinkling up her nose. He commented on how having someone care for you was all that mattered, and she nodded a little before getting up and wandering over to the counter next to the fridge.

She almost dropped the lid to Louise's antique cookie tin when Sam said that mum had gotten his father pregnant. Opening her mouth, she was about to ask if he'd said that wrong--he must have meant that the other way around--when he continued, explaining that his mother was an Ilosian who had left after finding out his father was expecting, and that his father had died during childbirth.

"No one couldn't invent a story like that," Eva said, shaking her head a little numbly when he assured her that he was telling the truth, "I believe you." After grabbing a few cookies from the tin for each of them, she wandered back over to the table and seated herself again.

"So... how long are you going to be sta--" she broke off suddenly, blanching, at the none-too-distant purr of an engine--an engine belonging to a hot-rodded twenty-first century Aston Martin Vantage. Louise was almost home. "Quick!" she hissed, leaping up and shoving him toward the back door, "We need to get you out of sight until she's gone upstairs, and then you have to get out of here!"

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam couldn't help but smirk at what she said, even though they'd spread to her demise as well now. "We could probably hide you in the beach house, stow you off the planet in one of our cases or something, take you back to live with the strange Irish folk and leprechauns," he snickered, drinking the rest of his milk.

Her reaction had been as he'd expected, the cookie tin almost clattering to the floor in surprise. At least she believed him, that was a relief. "You're not kidding," he said, running a hand over his face, "thank you." He looked at her sincerely; he was pretty much always honest, little white lies here and there like any young boy, but honest about the things that mattered. His Grandparents were quite old fashioned about a lot of things, honesty was definitely something they imbued him with.

Sam never got the chance to answer Eva's broken question. What they'd been joking about was actually happening, Louise had returned. Refraining from cursing, he was shoved onto his feet, tripping over them, he pounded through the back door, flattening himself against the wall, his heart pounding in his chest. When he'd been looking for excitement, he hadn't meant this. Breathing hard for a moment, he brought it down to a whisper, waiting to see what would happen next.